


i'm holding my breath with a baseball bat

by ninjatools



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, F/F, Street fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 20:44:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16048223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninjatools/pseuds/ninjatools
Summary: Sakura loves the thrill of fighting, is addicted to the pain and violence. Karin needs her to leave it behind.





	i'm holding my breath with a baseball bat

**Author's Note:**

> this was written in a couple hours bc i was feeling really depressed and i had to write it out  
> the title is taken from townie by mitski

She spits blood from her mouth, the coppery taste cloying, coating her tongue and she bares red streaked teeth in a savage grin. She adjusts her black gloves and backs away from her opponent before reeling her fist back for another blow. She’s too slow, feels knuckles connect with her temple, sees black dots, staggers, rights her footing and carries through with her punch. She lands a clean hit to their cheekbone, her blood rushing, a flush of satisfaction, when she hears and feels their teeth clack harshly. 

They're fighting on tarmac, a ring hastily sketched out in chalk, outlined by a modest crowd eager for blood, all looking to find that surge of adrenalin, the excitement of blood spilled illicitly, a sense of affinity in their desperate thrill seeking. 

Gravel spins as she darts forward to deliver a heavy blow to her opponent’s chin, their teeth sinking into their lip, blood spurting out to drip steadily onto the ground. 

She’s forgotten who she’s fighting, names and faces blurring into targets to hit, places to inflict the most damage the most quickly. Their fight is illuminated by a single street-light, turning their bodies into strange shadows lit yellow and black, making the people watching seem like a chanting churning mass, writhing and shouting for destruction and chaos. 

Sweat drips into her eyes, a hand coming up to swipe it away, catching on strands of faded pink hair, lank and messily shaved into an undercut. She focusses back in on her foe, marking out her next hit as she dodges their retaliation, feet skidding on loose stones. She dives forward, arm whipping out to thud into the side of their head, watching as they go down hard, knees splitting open on the rough ground, hands shooting out to catch their fall. But they stay down and all Sakura can feel in that moment is ecstasy, blood roaring in her ears, body burning, in that moment she could bring the world down to her feet, could shatter the sun with her own two hands. 

The moment ends, the sounds of the crowd slowly filtering in, aches and pains making themselves known, arms shaky. She steps forward, reaches a hand out, gracious in victory, recognises red hair as he looks up at her and grasps her outstretched hand. He nods at her before striding away, the crowd parting like water before his body. 

She laughs, vaguely delirious as she comes down from her adrenalin high and realises she’s defeated one of the best, most infamous fighters on the underground circuit, Sasori, called Scorpion for his violent attacks. 

The crowd has started to disperse now that the fun has ended, slinking away into the shadows of the night, the cold creeping back in. Her sweat drys and she shivers, looking around for her ride. She’d texted Karin the address of the abandoned parking lot when she’d first arrived; Karin didn't particularly like watching her fight, preferring instead to help clean up the mess afterwards.

She catches a flash as the street-lights reflects off Karin’s glasses, her figure slipping in and out of darkness as she gets closer, until Sakura can see the frown on her face. 

Karin grabs her hand, tugging Sakura towards where she’d parked just off the road, warmth radiating from Karin, heating Sakura's goose pimpled skin where their arms brush. When they reach the car Karin pushes her into the front seat, leaving the door open, and goes around to the boot. She comes back carrying a well used first aid kit and crouches between Sakura's open legs. The pads of her fingers are rough against her skin as Karin wipes her cuts with an antibacterial cloth and sticks frog plasters Naruto had given them on the freely bleeding grazes. 

The frown on her face slowly lessens as she works, replaced with a soft look, fragile and open. Sakura feels a rush of guilt at the look in Karin's eyes, remembering all the times she’d promised to stop fighting, remembers seeing her pale worried face in crowds, remembers her silent tears when Karin had patched Sakura up after she had been badly hurt, a crooked nose as a permanent reminder. 

Sakura peels off her gloves, winces as they scrape her bruised and cracked knuckles, and places her hand on the side of Karin's face, tilting it up so their eyes can meet. She leans down, brushing her lips gently over Karin's, pulling away before leaning back in and deepening the kiss, pressing against Karin’s mouth more insistently, their tongues lazily moving together before they pull away. Sakura runs her thumb over Karin's top lip, catching a smear of blood, and smiles tenderly at her lover, trying to express her apology in actions rather than words; she’d never been very good with words outside of memorised textbook definitions, her sentences coming out clunky and blunt, her meaning misconstrued. 

Karin shakily smiles back, reaching up to squeeze Sakura's hand and place it back in her lap, and stands up, closing Sakura's car door as she walks around to the drivers side. She starts the car in silence, the quiet heavy with unsaid feelings; Sakura watches her face as it is lit up by the street lights they drive under, Karin's eyes focussed forward on the road. Without looking Karin pops open the glove compartment, the light glinting off the ring on her finger. Sakura looks away from Karin's face to look into the compartment, sees a simple silver ring rolling around in the empty space. 

“You left it behind.” Karin’s voice is flat, tries to be, but ends up sounding hurt instead.

Sakura picks up the band gingerly and slowly places it back on her ring finger where it belongs, where it usually sits warm and heavy; the metal is cold now and she flinches when she pushes it past her swollen joint. She takes a deep breath and—“I’m sorry.” She’s breathless anyway, fear making her heart jump and lungs freeze. 

Karin stops at a red light, the light casting her pale skin in crimson, making her seem almost devilish for a moment, her features temporarily shifting into a demonic snarl, red hair like dripping blood. She glances over and her face is its usual beautiful, familiar visage, hair a comforting auburn resting softly against her face and neck. She smiles and Sakura feels her heart break, relief so strong she feels as if she’s going to be sick, she hates making Karin worry, hates seeing her face twist into pinched lines. Karin takes her hand, still smiling softly, eyes full of an emotion Sakura always longs to see and always finds hard to articulate; she expresses herself in actions rather than words. 

The light changes to green, but they stay sitting there, just gazing at each other peacefully until Sakura abruptly winds down her window. She grips her gloves, they are frayed and crusted with blood, not all of it hers, they represent her past, how she fought her way up and out, clawed her way to something better, to better people, to Naruto, to Karin. She takes Karin's hand again, knuckles protesting with how hard she holds, wind blows against her face, the sound of cars and faint music reaching their ears, but it doesn't burst the bubble they are in. She knows, she’s always known that she’d have to leave part of her behind, but it is a part that she no longer needs, a bandage she’d used when she was all open wounds, but it is only dragging her down now she’s healed. She does it quickly, gloves gone, taken by the wind, in an instant. She hears Karin gasp, feels her hand squeeze harder, but then Sakura is laughing, feeling lighter than she ever has before and Karin joins in, their laughter echoing out the still open window as they drive home in the night. 

Sakura knows that her life won’t be perfect, it has never been anything like the fairy-tales she used to read, but sometimes to move forward you need to let things go.

**Author's Note:**

> anyway i hope you enjoyed  
> it was my first time writing sakukarin so any feedback would be appreciated  
> you can find me on [tumblr](https://lesbiankarin.tumblr.com/)(@lesbiankarin)


End file.
